A Wilde Hunt

Part One

She hurried her footsteps down the alley.  This was not part of the plan.  Something grabbed her foot.  A bottle, a branch, or a hand -- either way she found herself flat on the pavement, cheek to the ground, face to foot with a very large, very black, boot. With a sinking heart Ariane followed that boot up, her eyes skimming over the tight, worn blue jeans and the even tighter t-shirt until she got to the vampire's face. She bit back a groan.

"I thought you fae were supposed to be graceful," Gabriel said, raising one eyebrow. The dim streetlights made his odd grey eyes shift from almost green to a pale blue.

"Some more than others," Ariane replied cautiously, too wary of him to fire off the shrewish retort that immediately came to mind. She stayed sprawled out on the cold concrete until Gabriel bent down and offered her a hand up. His skin was cool and dry, and he lifted her to her feet with frightening ease, but Ariane was used to that part.

"I'm glad I caught you," he continued, holding onto her hand despite her gentle attempt to disengage. Oh, this was not good at all. "I almost thought you were avoiding me."

"I didn't expect to see you here." Ariane glanced behind Gabriel. The alley opened up onto State Street, only a few blocks from Library Mall, and Madison's resident vampire typically avoided the university campus.

Gabriel smiled his warm friendly smile. It crinkled the corners of his eyes and everything. "I was looking for you, actually. I thought perhaps you might be able to do me a favor."

He still had hold of her hand. Ariane was not bound by being caught like some of the other fae were, but even skinshifters like herself were more inclined to be helpful under the right circumstances. "What kind of favor?"

"I've heard whispers, not even rumors really, of a gathering of mages." The smile vanished, replaced by a more genuine frown of distaste. "I know November Eve is a special day for you, but I would consider it a personal favor if you and yours might swing by Picnic Point and make sure no one is getting up to mischief."

It was Ariane's turn to frown. "What kind of rumors?"

"So you'll go?"

She sighed. Vampires and skinshifters avoided each other on principle in most cities, but Madison, Wisconsin was not your average college town. The ley lines running through campus attracted a host of mages, as well as spirits, demons, and fae. Gabriel and the skinshifters had an uneasy truce, made more amenable in recent years since Ariane's little brother Marty became best friends with Gabriel's adoptive grandson. Unfortunately, that relationship meant that Ariane was an all-too-convenient contact whenever the vampire wanted something. Still, having him owe her a favor... "Yes, I'll at least look into it."

He nodded and released her hand. Finally. "Recruitment, from the sounds of things, though none of my contacts can get much more than that." Ariane snickered to herself, knowing his "contacts" were the club-going twenty-somethings he usually fed from. "One expects a certain amount of secretive behavior with that, but it's been surprisingly difficult to get any more information, especially considering how many people I've heard the whispers from."

Ariane pursed her lips. "Mages form cadres all the time, you know…"

The look he gave her withered the words in her throat. "I'm quite well aware, Ari. I'm not asking you to intervene. I just want to know what they're up to. If all they want to do is worship the full moon, wonderful. If they're summoning demons, I need to know. I hate competition."

"Right." She swallowed hard. "Spying. I can do that."

The vampire smiled, his real smile this time, cold and thin and with the distantly fond air of a craftsman admiring one of his tools. "I know."

*              *              *

The next night was November Eve, and Ariane regretfully found herself winging toward Picnic Point. She hadn't bothered to ask any of the other skinshifters if they wanted to join her—most preferred to keep as much distance from Gabriel and his lot as possible, even if the information to be gained would benefit the whole host. She clacked her beak in irritation. Marty would have come, of course, but the last thing she needed was a teenage boy to look after. Besides, he spent too much time with the vampire ilk as it was. Ariane suppressed a shiver that would've sent her off course. Despite their immunity to psychic tricks, a lone skinshifter was no match for even a young vampire, much less one as ancient as Gabriel was purported to be.

A quick pass over the park, and probably ten minutes or so of watching some boring ritual, and then I can try to catch up with the rest of the host. They'd be out in the countryside, Hunting through the farmers' fields till morning… Ariane followed the ley lines over Bascom Hill and along the lakeshore toward the Point, already thinking ahead to where she would start to look for her fae kin.

The ley lines shivered under her.

Ariane's wings stopped rowing the air. She glided, concentrating on the energy sense that let her kind find the faerie paths and pookha holes that led to the Underground.

Something was definitely stirring up ahead. With new determination Ariane followed the dissonance in the lines, crossing briefly over Lake Mendota until she came to a clearing on the small peninsula that was Picnic Point. She landed quietly on a tree branch and studied the figures before her.

Three women in long, dark robes stood before two men and a woman dressed in apparently whatever white clothes they happened to own. Ariane stared hard at the man closest to her, hardly able to believe her avian eyes. Without meaning to she spoke aloud, a surprised crow squawk that echoed through the trees. 

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